Don’t fall Asleep with Alan Wake

Alan Wake is a game made in 2010 by Remedy Entertainment, and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It is Remedy’s second franchise after Max Payne, and I am glad to say that they continue their tradition of quality with this game. I know your asking why I took three years to try it, but that is because I am cheap and it was five dollars on the Xbox Live Arcade.

Alan Wake starts off with the title character Alan Wake and his wife Alice on a trip to a secluded Washington town called Bright Falls. They are going there to take a break and hopefully find a cure for Alan’s crippling writer’s block: Alan is a writer but he hasn’t been able to write anything for two years. During their first night in Bright Falls something happens and Alice goes missing, and Alan can’t remember what happened, and the town’s inhabitants seem to be turning into monsters when the lights go out. Can you save Alice and Bright Falls?

The game is separated in to six episodes, and each one starts off with a “Previously on Alan Wake”. The creators did this because they love the show Twin Peaks, and used it for some of the setup for this game. There is also a lot of Hitchcock and Stephen King to found here too, but it all comes together and works. This is a very creepy game, and it made me jump more then once.

The gameplay is deceptively simple, you must shine your flashlight on the bad guys to where down their darkness and then you can shoot them with whatever gun you have with you. It makes it kind of a dual wielding/lock on mechanic that works very well. You can also make light traps to end the foes that follow you in the dark.

Also along the way you can collect pages to the book that you are apparently writing, it fills in the story, and lets you in on some of the secrets of Bright Falls.

This is a great game, and it was well worth my five dollars, and if you are looking for a game to play this summer you should add this to your list.